Legalizing Feminist Porn with Pandora Blake TPP109

In this episode I have an invigorating conversation with activist and feminist pornographer Pandora Blake. We discuss the shady politics of repression of sexual expression. While there are many reasons to feel defeated and demoralized in the struggle for sexual and artistic liberation, Pandora provides a lot of strength and hope that a proud, empowered, uncompromising, pornographic revolution will prevail.

Pandora Blake is a feminist pornographer, sex worker and sexual freedom campaigner. Her films have won multiple international awards and her website Dreams of Spanking has survived legal battles against porn censorship in the UK.

Pandora is an active campaigner for sex work decriminalisation and labour rights, obscenity law reform, civil liberties and human rights, particularly relating to freedom of expression, gender, sexuality and privacy. She is official spokesperson for Backlash, which defends freedom of sexual expression among consenting adults in the UK, and organises
alongside the Open Rights Group and the English Collective of Prostitutes. An experienced public speaker, Pandora regularly appears on panels and gives talks and media interviews. She runs a Patreon to support her unpaid activism and political work.

As a sex worker and porn-maker, Pandora works passionately to increase social and legal acceptance of marginalised sexualities, educate the public about kink and BDSM, and reduce stigma and shame. She was awarded Publicist of the Year at the Sexual Freedom Awards 2015 for her efforts advocating for sex workers’ rights and against porn censorship. She is currently working on a book about the politics and psychology of fantasy, particularly the ones we don’t dare admit to in public.

Her pornographic films are story-driven and gender-critical, exploring kinky fantasies via a queer erotic gaze. She is the sole owner and operator of Dreams of Spanking, which launched in 2011, faced government censorship for its unapologetic depiction of consensual BDSM, and successfully appealed against closure by the UK porn regulator in 2016.

Her work has won awards including Best BDSM Scene 2015 at the Feminist Porn Awards, and first prize in the 2015 Short Film Competition at the Berlin Porn Film Festival. Her production ethos is performer-centric, and prioritises transparency, explicit performer consent, and equal pay for equal work.

Pandora writes a blog on kink, porn and politics, and you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.